phonies
by splendeur
Summary: A story of sorts. "Cut the shit, Ahnna, and I will too." Ahnna Pincher is back, because who really thought she'd be gone forever?
1. First bell

_**phonies**_

**Welcome, welcome, everyone :)**

**How's life? It's been awhile, hasn't it? Well, I think I'm back._ Maybe_. **

**Title: Phonies**

**Style: Multi-Chap (multi-multi-_multi_ chap to you)**

**What: Old story that I've attempted to revamp, read more at the bottom for plot hints**

**Enjoy...if you dare**

**(-)**

******Chapter 1 – "First Bell"**

BOCD, Westchester NY

The Back Garden

September 15th (Mon)

7:51 AM

"Anyone seen 'em yet?" Derrick Harrington spoke lazily, leaning back on the old oak behind OCD, or BOCD as it now was to be called. His golden hair flopped in his brown eyes as he surveyed the crop of students milling in front of him. None dared to come near him or his pack; everyone knew that they were untouchable. For now, at least.

It was T-minus four minutes until the official end of summer. The air still smelled like honeysuckle, and all the boys still had their summer tans intact. It would take a while before it really started to feel like fall.

"Nope," Griffin Hastings offered his answer. No one knew where the pretty committee was. In fact, no one had even seen the girls since the beginning of summer, a fact all the boys were thankful for. Griffin knew for a fact that Kemp and Chris still had nightmares from Dylan's over-eating and burping contests. Griffin was just thankful that Kristen Gregory, and her stalking, faux-goth tendencies were behind him.

"Don't tell me you guys are nervous to see them." A third voice joined the conversation, belonging to Cam Fisher. "We're going to _fucking_ rule this school. Period." Cam had hardened up over the summer. The incessant calls from Claire Lyons had heightened his confidence and enlarged his ego. He put away the flower-giving, gummy-bear-loving version of himself and focused on making himself the best eighth grader he could be. He'd cut his hair, and his blue eye had started to look greener, which was a total bonus. His opinion of himself was high, and it was rising by the minute with each girl who checked him out.

"We're not. Revenge is still on, right?" Griffin responded immediately, sitting up straight. He too had dropped his silly tendencies over the summer, losing the hair mascara and firmly scoring a place in the Briarwood (or now, BOCD) élite.

"Of course, dude," said Josh Hotz, a fourth member of the six-boy clique. He was mindlessly clicking his pen as he stared up into the branches of the tree, slightly zoned out.

Abruptly, a lurid bell formally announced the start of the school year. Chris Plovert, Kemp Hurley, Derrick Herrington, Cam Fisher, Josh Hotz and Griffin Hastings reluctantly got to their feet and started to shuffle towards the front doors with the rest of the crowd.

"Guess summer's done," said Cam, as they finally made it through the giant front doors of building B1. All of the boys nodded somberly as they received their schedules from weird girly ATM-looking things. They all found that they had received lockers in the main hall of Building B1, probably due to Chris' father's influence on BOCD. When they arrived at their numbers, all the boys were internally overjoyed to find that they had received full lockers side-by-side.

"Not bad." Griffin said, looking into his locker. BOCD staff had outfitted it with all of his textbooks already, plus a small welcome pouch of gourmet candy.

"Close your mouth," Derrick joked, slugging the blonde former-goth in the arm. Griffin immediately countered with a shin kick, and Derrick called it even before a playful fistfight could break out in the halls on the first day.

"Looks like we're to go to the lunchroom," reported Josh, who was the only one clutching the "Welcome back" information sheet and schedule. "Oh, excuse me-" he put on a bad British accent and pursed his lips, "the Café. Everything here has such a girly name."

The sentence seemed to break the sullen tension emanating from the boys. They all laughed, having fun at the expense of BOCD. They all started their strut down to the Café, Derrick and Cam leading them along. Once the co-alphas reached the double doors, their expressions grew somber in unison. At Derrick's signal, Cam peeked in the lunchroom.

Immediately, he cheered. "No soccer-stalkers in sight!" The boys all whooped, and they started to walk in the room. The symphony chairs screeching on the floor was the soundtrack of their saunter. Everyone, even the little seventh-graders, wanted a glance at the soccer stars. The heat from the stares intensified their swagger as they slowly made their way towards Table 10, the largest in the Café. Olivia Ryan, Coral "Cici" McAdams and Kori Geldman were waiting.

They too, had gotten hotter over the summer. Kori was no longer the un-sexy, slouching, bad athlete. At Olivia's prodding, she had coaxed her hair to darken to a pretty gold color and she had taken ballet intensives at Body Alive routinely throughout the summer to fix her posture. She was now wearing a long-sleeved silk jersey dress with a braided belt and brown leather sandals, probably borrowed from Olivia herself.

Cici had changed her name, dyed her hair back to her "natural" (she claimed) light blonde. Everything about her had shrunk, except for her formidable boobs. A fine linen shirt, dark denim shorts and gold cowboy boots left little to the imagination on the first day.

And Olivia… well, Olivia was every guys best dream now. Her third nose job had hit the mark, and her whole look had shifted with it. She was still an air head, but in reality, no one cared. She wore a pale blue silk sun dress, her long silken hair in a fishtail braid.

As soon as the guys sat down, Olivia made her way over to Cam. Their summer fling was still hanging on by a thread. _It makes sense_, Cam thought with satisfaction, _hottest guy with the hottest girl_. Cici and Kori weren't tied down, per se, but they always gravitated towards a certain few. Chris and Josh's laps were soon occupied. Josh had finally come to his senses in July, and dumped Alicia. Sure, she was still hot, maybe as hot as Olivia, but if she insisted upon hanging around the soccer-stalkers and being one, she was no better than the others.

"Alright! Quiet down, please!" A young man shouted from the front of the Café. Everyone instantly assumed he was the new principle assisting the bird lady and continued on with their conversations. Finally, the bird lady herself managed to make them shut up with a loud squeal of microphone feedback. The Café went silent.

Cam shifted Olivia on to his other knee as he playfully poked her thigh.

"Before I begin, let me introduce Dean Don. He will be replacing Dean Smith-"

The wide double-door entrance of the Café squeaked open. Everyone in the room turned to watch Massie Block, Dylan Marvil, Kristen Gregory, Alicia Rivera, and Claire Lyons walk in the room. Massie was, of course, in the lead, wearing some idiotic glittery purple shirt that made her look like she was a bad memory from the eighties. Cam was honestly surprised. Wasn't the pretty committee all about looking good? Massie was as far away from the season's runway as Elmo.

The other girls didn't matter, Cam decided. He didn't even glance at Claire, instead focusing on Olivia's hair brushing against his face.

Just as the pretty committee neared their table, Josh sneezed.

"Fugly."

Table 10 erupted into snickers, just as the rejects walked by their table. Claire broke out of the silly all-together dance-step they were doing to stare directly at Cam. Everyone noticed. Cam could feel Olivia stiffen as she slid back further in Cam's lap.

"Chill, babe," he whispered into her ear, hugging his arms around her trim waist. Olivia immediately relaxed and sent him a wide smile.

"Since we're all here now-" the bird lady paused to glare at the pretty committee as they settled into Table 18. "-we'd like to introduce you to some new seventh and eighth grade students this year. Please be courteous to them, and please help them around school. Remember, they don't know OCD, excuse me, BOCD as well as you do!"

Beside Cam, Derrick scoffed. Cam knew that nobody in their group would be anywhere close to courteous to the newbies. The bird lady spoke a long list of seventh graders in monotone, the little kids entering one by one, red-faced.

Cam zoned out mid-way through, and started playing with Olivia's hair.

"And for the last of the eighth graders: Ahnna Pincher, Launa Gautier, Shauna West and Brianna Jeffries. Welcome to our school."

The four-girl group paused at the front of the room to wave to the audience. This caught Cam's attention. Who would wave at the crowd other than pretentious Massie Block and her herd of stalkers? Squinting, he picked out the girls as they started to walk towards the tables. Suddenly, he couldn't break his gaze away. Every guy in the room was staring. The girls were wearing _very_ short skirts.

The blonde in the center of the group glanced at him. She must have noticed him staring, or maybe the open seats at the table. She was clearly the Massie Block of the group.

"Hello. I'm Ahnna. Ahnna Pincher." She extended her delicate hand for a shake. Cam, surprised at the traditional introduction, paused before extending his callused hand for a shake. Hearing a gasp, Cam turned briefly to see the pretty committee staring at Ahnna in shock. He immediately turned around and steadied Olivia on his thigh.

"Cam Fisher. Do you know…them?" He smiled as he threw his thumb over his shoulder dismissively.

"Unfortunately, yes. We used to go to school with Massie." Ahnna threw her curls back and let out a short, melodic laugh. "Thank god those days are over."

"I'm Olivia." Olivia suddenly spoke, extending her arm robotically. It was obvious she felt threatened. Cam thought she was right to feel so. Ahnna was blonde, beautiful and apparently had a great personality.

"Oh, pardon me!" Ahnna spoke charmingly, ignoring Olivia entirely. Cam tried to lessen the blow by playfully pulling back Olivia's arm and giving her a reassuring kiss on the cheek when Ahnna's back was turned. "Let me introduce the girls."

"Launa," she nodded her head towards a tall brunette with startlingly ice blue eyes. The girl smiled and took a free seat.

"Shauna." An incredibly petite towhead waved alluringly from the other side of the table.

"Brianna," Ahnna finished with a nod towards an astonishingly beautiful Asian girl.

"Nice to meet you guys," said Cam. He meant it. "This is Josh, Kemp, Chris, Griffin, Derrick, Cici, Olivia and Kori." All three of the original girls smiled brightly in greeting, trying to mask their blank disappointment. They were no longer the single audience of all the guys' attention. No longer the without-question hottest girls in the school. No longer the sole heirs of the OCD female alpha crown.

"Oh, believe me, the pleasure is mine." Ahnna widened her cerulean eyes, giving Cam an alluring look.

It's going to be a good year, Cam thought to himself. When Ahnna dragged a chair next to him with a suggestive smile, he thought: _Oh yeah. It's definitely going to be a good year._

* * *

**What do you guys think? I love Ahnna Pincher as a character. She's one of those special few that can be interpreted canonically any way you want to. So yes, this is a rewrite of the PC's eighth grade year. Nothing is for certain at BOCD, especially when Ahnna's there. **

**Let me clear up a few things for the future, just so we aren't confused. **

**- Unless explicitly stated, most of the crazy stuff that happened in the Summer Collection either doesn't matter or didn't happen**

**- I changed the way Harrison spelled "Lana". I really don't like the spelling, so Lana is now Launa**

**- Claire was in Dial L, and the movie _was not_ a flop, but no one really cares enough to idolize her anymore**

**So, again: what do you guys think? I'd love it if you'd drop me a review. I don't know when I'll update this, I have the next ten or so chapters written. My deal with myself is that every time I post a prewritten chapter, I have to write another one to replace it. **

**QOTD: What's your favorite new/newish writer in the Clique fandom? I've got some catching up to do, fic-wise. **

**xx,**

**Bridget**


	2. Not it, anymore

**hey!**

**So, it's been awhile, but I'm updating, aren't I? :)**

**Thank you so much for the reviews, they're great to see. **

* * *

**Chapter 2 – "Not it, anymore, at all, ever"**

BOCD, Westchester NY

Bomb Shelter

September 15th (Mon)

12:12 PM

"This. Can. Nawt. Be. Happening. To. Me." Massie shrieked. She was crouched on the black leather couch in the center of the shelter. If she weren't so conscious of her mascara, she would have been bawling by now.

"Massie, calm down." Alicia soothed from across the room. Claire, who was awkwardly hanging around the gummy bear dispenser, still had no idea what was going on. Lifting a nail to her mouth, she anxiously bit at it, and then realized she was ruining her first-day manicure. Was it wrong to be stressing about missing the first day tour when her normally cool and classy best friend was unraveling right in front of her?

Finally Claire couldn't take it any longer. She motioned towards Kristen, who was kicking a soccer ball repeatedly against the bomb shelter door and pointed towards her own confused face.

"Massie used to be in Ahnna's clique," explained Kristen as she bounced the soccer ball from her foot to her shoulder and back again. "Before she met us."

Claire nodded, most of her confusion gone. She turned back towards the gummy bear dispenser and punched out fifty cherry-pineapple chocolate-covered candies.

"I don't think Ahnna is the big deal here." Alicia called from the fluffy white rug, where her feet were casually touching her head as she stretched her back. "Did you see the guys? Josh didn't even glance at me; he was all up with Kori in his lap. The blondies were the first to take our guys."

"Cam…" Claire groaned softly, feeding a cherry-pineapple 'bear into her mouth. Immediately, she spat it out. Chocolate and cherry were not meant to mix.

"Shut the fuck up Claire." Massie spat, sending her an amber-colored glare. Claire recoiled in shock, and then quietly continued to eat the sugar in front of her, choking each gummy bear down. They tasted sour, like the pretty committee's expired popularity. "Get the fuck over him. He's moved on. _My_… Our reputations and popularity is at stake here."

"You can get dick-head back later." Massie added with a sigh, flopping down onto the couch dramatically. Claire glanced at her, wide eyed. She had never heard Massie swear that many times in her entire time in Westchester.

"Agreed!" Alicia and Dylan chimed at the exact same time.

"We do have the bomb shelter, which means we're technically alphas by tradition…" Kristen countered.

"Tradition is out the window," said Massie. "First boys, and now Ahnna? It's going to be a while before the room is even registering on people's alpha radars. We need to get our popularity back another way."

"Well, how?" Claire said flatly. "Hang on, we don't even know how popular Ahnna is going to be. Maybe she'll be labeled a slut and her popularity will nosedive…"

**(LINE BREAK)**

_I'm Naïve_. Claire thought grimly. _So fucking naïve. _It had been less than one hour after the bomb shelter meeting, and Ahnna's popularity had skyrocketed already. Everyone was interested in the new girls. The pretty committee was old news. With all of the guys attention placed squarely on Ahnna, the blonde was able to breeze through the halls with a smug look on her face without being labeled a bitch. Everyone liked her, even though less than ten percent of BOCD's eighth grade class had spoken to her. Her clique was always close behind. Always there, and always sucking up the leftover attention.

Claire had two classes with her: PE, and Health. In the former, Ahnna had been called out for wearing too short of a uniform, and threatened with a detention, but as soon as she demonstrated her superior sprinting skills the female coach was putty in her hands. Health was just as torturous, as her whole clique was in the class, along with Duh-livia Ryan and Cam. Claire shivered at the thought of his name.

"Cam-cam! No way! We have so many classes together!" Ahnna had called, practically oozing with sweetness. "Come sit!" She had padded the empty chair next to her (which was three chairs behind Claire's), keeping the bright smile on her face.

Claire was forced to listen to their conversation for the entire 20-minute shortened class. All of the members of the 'A list' (what Claire coined the soccer jocks, Ahnna's clique and Olivia's trio collectively) were becoming awfully close already, even though they had met each other hours ago. The pretty committee was fading.

They were old news. They were easy to dispose of, apparently.

And if they didn't do anything soon, they were _done_.

* * *

**Anyway, sorry for the short chapter. I swear, I thought there was more to this chapter, but alas I've combined it into chapter three. I'll try and post that over the weekend. Thank you very much to tyrells, hawtjuicyaddict, euphorias, psychotic honeybadger of death (love the username, by the way), outside the crayon box, lydiamartins, Waynanaylakayla, titaniums & baratheons (also a lovely username).**

**Next time, expect cam!claire drama and the such :)**

**I'd love to see some reviews, if you've got it in you! **

**-B**

**p.s. - Is fanfiction giving anyone else trouble? It took me fifteen minutes to coax the uploading doo-thingy to not produce a solid block of text with no spaces!**


	3. Shatter the walls, smash the floors

**Chapter 3 – "Shatter the walls, smash the floors"**

**The Ryan Household, Westchester NY**

**Backyard**

**September 15th (Mon)**

**3:36 PM**

To Cam's displeasure, Ahnna had politely declined the invite over to Olivia's after school. Her club cheerleading team was having their first practice of the year. Thankfully, her hot friends had been able to make it, thanks to Josh's incessant begging…and _let's face it_ for Cam's attention.

_They can't take their eyes off of me, _Cam thought with satisfaction, only half listening to Josh prattling beside him.

"Did you see Launa's ass?" Josh whispered in his ear, whistling softly. "_Fine_."

The two boys were standing near the top of the homemade half-pipe, casually checking out the new girls as they chatted with Olivia, Cici (Coral) and Kori.

"Yeah, all of them are hot," Cam murmured, adding _and none of them are into you as much as me _in his head.

"Did you get her number?"

Cam finally smiled for real. "Dude, I got all of their numbers." He pulled out his newish black iPhone and rattled off Launa's number.

"And the rest?" Josh asked eagerly. Cam read him Shauna and Brianna's numbers. "Ahnna's?"

"What do you need Ahnna's for?" Cam asked coolly, running a hand through his black, rakish hair.

"Don't worry, man. Everyone knows she's yours. I'm not going to like, go behind your back here. Blonde isn't really my thing, either."

Cam, reassured, reeled off Ahnna's number and quickly slid his iPhone away. He took a jump off the top platform with his skateboard, and rolled to the other side of the half pipe. There, he unbuckled his dorky navy helmet and climbed down the rope ladder to the asphalt, skateboard in hand.

"That looked so scary," said Shauna, blinking at him, wide-eyed. Cam smiled back at her, thinking she wasn't a bad second choice. She was ten times hotter than Claire, at least.

The thought of his tacky ex brought a frown to his face. She was in his health for sure (he had caught her staring….twice) and he was almost positive that she was in his PE too. He set his skateboard down with a thump, wishing that Claire would disappear. _Wait… _never mind. If she wasn't at BOCD, how could he mess with her in revenge? Yes, it was better that way.

"Shit." Cam spat, as his skateboard started to drift away. He lunged towards it and managed to save it from going down the Ryan's steep driveway. He was fondly reminded of trekking up the driveway each summer day. It was a schedule: Cam would wake at eleven, walk over here to skate, and then they would all go do something in late afternoon. But now, instead of only three hot girls, there were six. They had also invited Dempsey Solomon, a loser-turned-jock back from a year in Africa that Josh had become fast friends with and a newbie transplant Caleb Zimmerman.

Cam, seeing Josh heading back up the half pipe, jumped on his skateboard and headed back over. He changed his mind halfway, and skidded to a stop next to Brianna, giving her a carefully thought out smile. Sure, he preferred Ahnna…but she wasn't there, was she?

**The Block Estate, Westchester NY**

**Massie's room (the iPad)**

**September 15th (Mon)**

**5:04 PM**

"Does _any_one have _any _ideas?" Massie grumbled, more to herself then to anyone else. She was bitter and angered from her disastrous first day at school. Who gave Ahnna the right to steal _her_ school? She was the rightful eighth grade alpha. She had won the bomb shelter fair in square… so the title was automatically hers!

Claire interrupted her thoughts with a pathetic whimper, her baby blue eyes tearing up. "Cam won't answer my texts."

"Then stop texting him, Kuh-laire. You probably look desperate," offered Alicia. "How many times have you texted him, anyway?" She quickly darted towards Claire and snatched her old-school slider. She thumbed through the Claire/Cam text thread from the day.

**Claire: u going to school?**

**Claire: hey, cam?**

**Claire: this is going to sound weird, but can we talk?**

**Claire: I'm sorry**

**Claire: cam… I really don't want this to end this way. I'm in your health and PE, **

**Claire: you probably didn't notice me…**

**Claire: Cam?**

**Claire: hi? **

"Ehmagawd, Kristen, look at this," Alicia giggled, easily tossing the black slider into Kristen's tan outstretched palm.

"_Claire_," said Kristen, voice ripe with condescension. She shook her head. "I texted Griffin half this much over the_ entire_ summer."

She flipped on to her stomach, ignoring the pathetic look Claire sent her way, and tossed the phone in a high arc towards Dylan. The redheaded PC member, being the awesome athlete she is, barely touched the phone and sent it spiraling into Massie's hardwood floor. It promptly shattered into hundreds of tiny black plastic shards.

"Somebody better clean that up." Massie complained, rolling her amber eyes. Her words were lost in Claire's responding shriek. Massie, even more aggravated, placed one hand over the closest ear and sharply told Claire to shut the eff up.

"-oooo." Claire's sad cry trailed off as she slowly walked towards her destroyed phone, horror clear in her pale blue eyes. Her hands shot out as if uncontrolled, and tried to put the pieces back together.

"What's the big deal?" Massie sighed, putting down her phone for half a second to glare at Claire. "Maybe the Lyonses will finally choke up an iPhone for their only daughter."

"I had everyone's number on there," said Claire softly. "I had Cam's new one, the one he got in August."

"Somebody has his," Massie's tone stayed dismissive as she glanced at the other PC members in turn. They all shook their shiny blowouts no. "Okay, maybe not…"

"You don't even need to be texting him," Alicia jumped to her alpha's rescue. The brown-eyed Spanish beauty was rapidly texting on her iPhone but still managed to stay abreast of the conversation. Massie wondered briefly who she was texting. Massie hadn't gotten one non-PC/staff/family text all day.

"Our main concern is the Ahnnabees, or whatever the hell they're named now," said Massie.

"I hardly think they'd still call themselves that-" Kristen scoffed, "- It's not like they're still the plaid-erpiller they were back in fourth."

Somewhere in the depths of Massie's brain, Kristen's words sparked an idea. Two wires connected, and her smile lit up.

"That's perfect," she murmured to herself, and then turned to the PC. "We'll figure it out."

All four of the girls stared at her as if she had grown horns. Massie, past caring, breezed by them, murmuring "bathroom" as her excuse. As soon as she was alone in her lavender marble bathroom, she sat down with her back against the door and hugged her knees to the chest.

It was a plan. Perhaps it wouldn't benefit anyone else but her, but it was a solid plan. The other PC members could figure themselves out. Now, all she had to do was watch and wait.

There was sure to be an opportunity to ruin Ahnna for good.

* * *

**Sorry for the late update, guys! I hope you still remember this :) **

**QOTD: Have you read all of the Clique novels? If not, which ones did you miss? **

**x,**

**B**


	4. class to class, girl to girl

**Chapter 4 – "Class to class, girl to girl, life goes on"**

BOCD, Westchester NY

Building B1, Hallway

September 16th (Tue)

7:54 AM

Cam liked to think he looked at each day as a mix of negatives and positives. Today was looking awfully good. The only strikes against it so far were numero uno: It was school, and numero dos: his stalker was in a few of his classes. He had _that_ to look forward too.

But the positives were stacked high: his friends were all there, his classes seemed like they were in a good order, and he had a 100% chance of seeing Ahnna today. The blond beauty hadn't been able to make it at all the previous day, and Cam had all but kissed Shauna in her absence. Unlike most guys he was sly enough to know that Ahnna would care if he made out with her best friend in her absence… That is, if she was interested in him, for which Cam would bet $20 that the answer was yes.

"First class?" Chris Plovert called out from his locker, adjusting his black North Face backpack on his shoulders. "Anyone got English with Icop?"

"No," said Cam, checking his schedule, "I've got biology with Freed."

"Man, me too!" Griffin raised his hand for a high five and Cam slapped it eagerly. Just as he was about to ask if anyone else had the class, Josh interrupted him with an exaggerated gagging sound.

"I have…." he paused in horror, "creative writing. Now what kind of fucking girly shit is that?"

Laughing, Cam slapped his friend on the back and said his goodbyes. His Biology class was listed to be in building B4, and unless he booked it, he was going to be late on the first day. Griffin sensed his urgency, and together they took off in an easy jog, backpacks sloshing against their backs. Luck was on their side as they stomped up the staircase and headed into Classroom B4-11, the bell ringing just as they slid into a back-corner lab table.

"Alright." The balding Mr. Freed ordered from the front of the room, looking amiable despite his rough tone. Cam immediately took this as a weakness and zoned out. He was amazed how quickly he could stop paying attention.

The biology classroom was neatly organized. The classroom number was etched in a silver plate above the door, directly beside a chrome analog-and-digital-combination clock that read 8:01. Few posters lined the walls, although the periodic table was painted onto the walls in striking colors on Cam's left. Glancing up, Cam was amazed to see a 1000:1 scale drawing of a blood cell etched on the ceiling. As he continued to stare, the picture changed to a diagram of a process labeled Glycolysis.

"Griff, check it out," said Cam, pointing up to the ceiling as it changed yet again to a double-helix strand of DNA. He said it a bit louder than he intended, and a couple people turned to look at him, including the teacher.

"OCD is tricked," Griffin breathed, glancing up at the ceiling.

"I see a few students have already checked out the ceiling," he smiled. "We'll actually be learning about smart LED panels as part of our hurried circuit unit starting today…" The rest of his words changed to a blur as Cam lost interest and continued looking about the room. Behind his lab table stood three industrial silver sinks and what seemed like millions of cabinets stretching from floor to ceiling.

Cam, bored now, turned towards the important part of the class: the girls. His eyes drifted from face to face. Boring, okay, ugly, never, average, good, okay, bingo. Two rows up, one row over was Brianna, sitting with Cici. He artfully ripped out a small piece of napkin from the dispenser and wrote a quick note on it:

_Hey – Cam _

Shakespeare would have been proud. He aimed it for their table and grinned when it landed perfectly in Brianna's lap. Brianna glanced at the teacher before opening the note and turning give Cam a wide smile. She pulled out what looked like a silver and gold herringbone pen and scribbled a response:

_Hi :) – Bri_

Cam was just about to respond when the word "test" caught his attention coming out of Mr. Freed's mouth.

"-entry into this class. It will let me know your pre-knowledge of basic material in this class. For the hands-on portion, please find a partner you are not sitting with. You are to dissect a frog." Nearly-baldy went on to say something else, but the words were drowned out by the students (mainly the girls) groaning. Cam grinned. He didn't mind attempting to dissect, and this was a perfect time to talk and be seen with Brianna.

"Alright, go ahead and choose your partner. I'll pass out the specimen as soon as you're all seated."

Cam was out of his seat in a half-second, and tapping Brianna's shoulder in three. "Partners?"

"Of course." Brianna giggled, and then batted her eyelashes twice. Cam was forced to turn towards his shoulder to hide his resulting smirk. Easiest catch on the planet, besides Claire.

Brianna wasn't Ahnna, but she wasn't awful for a stand-in.

Griffin quickly secured Cici as his partner, and the four coupled A-listers sat at the nearest desks, sending two pairs of LBRs to the back of the classroom. The slimy greenish-gray amphibians were soon passed out, and Cam took the lead. Brianna watched as Cam guessed at dissecting the frog, taking out every different colored tissue and putting them on the red plastic tray with paper cups.

"That is so nasty." Cici screeched from behind them, causing Cam to turn and see what was going on. Griffin was dissecting the frog completely randomly with slashes of his knife. The half-smirk on his face showed that he knew exactly what he was doing.

The rest of Biology went by quickly, and Cam easily breezed through his next class: English with Josh and Caleb, the new kid. Soon he was on his way to second period, Gym. He had an extra spring in his step as he ducked into the locker room and changed into basketball shorts and a black Nike shirt: PE was the first class he had with Ahnna.

He jogged out into the gym. He spotted Derrick's blond mop and headed that way, trying to ignore Claire's eyes on his back. The pasty blonde was standing in the center of the gym, alone as she stretched her hamstring. From the brief glance he snuck at her, he could tell that she was wearing spandex, a PE no-no. Cam didn't look twice to confirm, but he was almost positive that her shirt was way too short for her torso.

_If she thinks that's going to get me back…_ Cam chuckled in his head as he reached Derrick on the other side of the gym. Leaning against the wall, the tallish blond was actively checking out Massie Block as she chatted with a few girls Cam didn't know.

"Dude, come on. Stop staring at Stalker #2." Cam snapped, annoyed. Was Derrick going to ruin the whole revenge thing by crushing on his old stalker?

"She's hot," countered Derrick as he turned to look at Cam. "_Fine_, I'll stop."

Cam, intrigued, glanced over at Massie. Surprisingly, she fit Derrick's description to a T. Gone was the sequined-eighties-memory of a day ago. She wore super-short denim-looking shorts and a simple white t-shirt, violating the dress code, but not anymore than Ahnna had yesterday. Her face was caked in less makeup than usual, and she actually looked pleasant.

"Guess you're right, she looks way hot. Too bad she's a loser," Cam said dismissively, running a hand through his thick black hair. As he turned his head to the left slightly, he caught sight of a girl with long flaxen hair and beautiful pale blue eyes heading straight for him.

Just as he turned to welcome Ahnna, she caught him around the midsection in a hug.

"Hey you," she cooed, releasing her hands and lacing them in front of her.

"Hey, Ahnna." Cam responded, trying to look suave and collected. He hugged her back. A shrill whistle was their cue to break apart as the Coach (he had a real name, but nobody had bothered to learn it) marched out of his courtside office.

"Squad lines by last name!" He yelled. "And no hugging, you two!"

* * *

**Not my favorite chapter, but oh well! **

**Anyway, just to be honest with my reviewers: I haven't kept up my promise of 1 upload - 1 chapter written so I can keep my surplus up. But do not fear! I have written out the next 20 or so chapter plots, so hopefully I'll increase the written-posted ratio positively soon!**

**Reviews are lovely!**

**QOTC: If you could date one of the Briarwood Boys, which one would you choose? **

**- B**


	5. Table 18

**Chapter 5 – "Table 18"**

**BOCD, Westchester NY**

**Building B1, Hallway**

**September 17th (Wed)**

**12:35 PM**

"This blows." Dylan stirred her gourmet pesto chicken pasta dejectedly, too bored to get excited about the carbohydrates waiting before her. The pretty committee, sans Massie, had been assigned to some boring new-female-eighth-graders-get-to-know-your-peers lunch for the rest of the week.

"Yup." Kristen glanced up from her thick geometry work packet, rolling her eyes. "Hardly any people are here, and it's irritating how BOCD is so sexist."

Normally, Claire wouldn't bother asking Kristen to explain her (way-too-complicated) thoughts, but she was bored-to-tears, so she decided to bite.

"Why, Kris?"

"Do you remember hearing anything about a new boys lunch group on the announcements?" Kristen grouched, not even bothering to lean in. The only other girls in the room were Allie-Rose Singer and one of her best friends Haileigh Shoemaker. They were both talking adamantly to a pair of new semi-attractive twin Indian transplants. The pretty committee wasn't even needed.

"I just hope _somebody_ and the slut set doesn't show up," said Alicia, rolling her eyes as she checked her sidekick for the fifteenth time to see if she had any messages.

"This is one of the stupidest ideas ever." As soon as Claire heard the doors open and the lilting voice float in, she gave Alicia a death glare. The Latina had jinxed them. Here Ahnna was, "slut set" and all.

"I know, I can't believe the dean caught us skipping and sent us here from the lunchroom. That would never happen at PMS," griped a petite blonde, entering right behind Ahnna. Two brunettes quickly followed the pair of blondes.

Alicia took a moment to examine their outfits. Both Ahnna and the pretty Asian girl wore short white skirts, but while Ahnna's was flared, her beta's was closefitting. On top, Ahnna was wearing a black linen blouse with rolled up sleeves and an electric orange Hermes "H" belt and matching flat Frye sandals. Her arms were covered in gold bangles. The beta looked far more eccentric, with her navy Hervé Leger bandage top and cognac knee-high flat sandals. Her black, silky smooth hair was tied up in a high pony with a cognac leather hair tie.

Both Shauna (Alicia recalled her name from PE seventh period) and the tall, fair brunette looked more casual. Shauna had the least innovative outfit of them all: a pair of dark distressed denim short-shorts and a striped boat-neck ballet top with tan Tory Burch flats. The taller brunette looked much more put together, with black ankle jeans, a white silk single-pleat tank top, and a gray-black fish-net knitted cardigan. Her feet were encased in white leather swirled sandals with a short gold heel, which matched her metallic headband.

Ahnna took a glance around the room, her gaze lingering on the pretty committee. Immediately, she scoffed and turned her back. "I guess we're stuck here until one of our moms can call and bitch us out."

"Mine can," said the taller brunette. "She doesn't mind."

"Great. Text her," said Ahnna, taking a seat at the front of the classroom. All of the pretty committee continued to watch the four-person clique as they chatted as though they weren't there. Alicia cringed as Claire started hacking after eating too many gummy bears at once.

Ahnna took a dramatic glance backwards and sighed.

"Do we really need losers to make us feel welcome?" she whispered loudly, causing the two Indian girls in the back to snicker. They probably didn't understand that Ahnna probably considered them losers too.

Kristen and Dylan both turned around to give them both their worst glares. The two dark-skinned modestly dressed girls immediately shut up and slid down in their seats, causing Kristen to smile slightly. They hadn't lost all of their power, not yet.

Meanwhile, Alicia was glancing at her white and pale green-gray tennis skirt. Had she become a LBR already? No way. Her miniskirt and halter combo was right off the center spread of Vogue's September issue.

"This is awful," Brianna, the only Asian girl in the clique, complained. Kristen glanced at her briefly, wondering if Ahnna knew that she and Brianna had sat together in 3rd period honors English. Most likely no, Kristen thought, and dropped her gaze back to her Geometry homework. She always liked to get her homework done before the lesson, if she could.

"I know. I was so looking forward to sitting with Cam." Ahnna leaned back in her chair and dramatically punctuated her sentence by setting down her water bottle.

Claire sat up straight and sent a nasty glare towards Ahnna, growling slightly. No one gave her a lick of attention.

"He missed you last night," Brianna laughed, winking at Ahnna. Claire's fists clenched further. What was Cam doing with Ahnna? He was _hers_.

"Better make sure I get a bikini wax," joked Ahnna, surely giving the girls a suggestive smile. All of the 'ana's broke out in laughter. The two Indian girls in the back snickered again. Claire stuffed a handful of gummy bears in her mouth.

"Maybe we can go over there tonight," suggested Brianna, pulling out a silver mascara wand and dabbing it onto her eyelashes. "I really want to see-" she cut off her sentence and whispered the name into Ahnna's ear.

Ahnna's hair swished as she nodded. "I'd love to, but I think tryouts for boys soccer is today, and pretty much all of them play. Derrick got Dempsey and Caleb to try out, and even Kemp's trying it. And I don't really want to hang out with just the blonde bimbo herd."

"I hear you," Shauna chorused. "Homework at your house?"

"Absolutely." Ahnna said, standing up. "Do you think it's safe to leave? It's not like they care."

As the four A-listers stood up, Claire attempted to fake-text so they wouldn't know she was eavesdropping.

"I've got Geometry with Launa, can we hang out in building B3?" Brianna asked as she bent down to slide her black Longchamp book tote onto one shoulder.

"Absolutely, I have Algebra in B3 too. Shauna?"

"Hang on-" the blonde held up a finger, a la Kristen, "-I have Adv. Biology a building over. I can walk with you guys?"

"Sounds great. Anything to get out of this hell-hole." Ahnna giggled as she toppled over her chair in her haste to get out. "Hopefully the 'don won't catch us ditching."

"Do we really care if he does?" Launa smirked, and headed out the door first, followed by Ahnna and then Brianna and Shauna.

The clique's laughter continued to echo down the hallways after they were gone. Claire stared out the door after them, transfixed. She suddenly realized why they had reined popularity so quickly.

They had _it_. Whatever _that_ was.

BOCD, Westchester NY

The Café

September 17th (Wed)

12:36 PM

Massie rushed towards the Café, exhausted from the day's PE exercise. The girls were starting a three-month-long gymnastics unit, and the part-time female ex-Olympian had worked them hard. Massie had been extraordinarily pleased when she had nailed a back tuck on the floor (with a spotter, but _still_) three tries before Ahnna had. Suddenly she was very thankful for her mother for insisting she take summer gymnastic camp two summers ago. Other than that small feat, the first half of her third day back at OCD had been _awful_.

Her entire Algebra class was filled with total LBRs, with only Allie-Rose Singer as a semi-acceptable seat-partner. Massie had tried awfully hard to make small chat, but in the end she had given up and pretended she was focused on whatever the teacher was trying to say. Second period, French, had been even worse. Launa, one of Massie's ex-friends and what seemed like Ahnna's gamma, had chosen Cici (a newly blonde Coral) over Massie for a seat partner. Massie had been forced to sit by Kemp Hurley, who had taunted her repeatedly for being a soccer-stalker.

All in all, her Wednesday was horrible, and it was about to get a lot worse. When she swung the double doors open, her eyes went immediately to Table 18. The PC was nowhere in sight, and taking their place were the soccer boys and Olivia Ryan's trio. The Ahnnabees (_old habit_) were also missing. Quickly, Massie darted behind the silver high-tech recycling bins and sent a SOS to her friends.

**Massie: **where r u?! T18 has been taken over!

**Alicia: **assigned 2 a 8th grade new girls lunch thing stupid as F

**Dylan: **guess who just walked in

**Massie: **Ahnnabees?

**Alicia:** yup

**Massie: **lucky guess, good luck

Massie quickly powered off her phone, fearing that if she stayed on it for much longer someone would notice the ex-alpha stalling behind the bins. As she cautiously crept out and slid into the lunch line, she tried to go as slowly as possible, buying time to think.

As she picked up salad leaf-by-leaf, she mulled over her options. 1. Sit at different table, alone. 2. Sit with other people. 3. Don't eat lunch and leave Café. 4. Sit at Table 18 anyway.

One, two and three screamed pathetic. As Massie reluctantly slinked up to the checkout stand, she realized that option four was the only way to go. After all, it was her table. But then again…she would only be opening herself up to more Kemp-esque taunts if she dared go within ten feet of the soccer boys.

Biting the inside of her cheek, Massie tried to look as confident as possible as she strutted up to Table 18.

"Hey," she said, widening her eyes to look as innocent as possible.

"Look at that. A prime specimen of a stalker," Cam laughed through a mouthful of food. Massie gave him a bad look, but surprisingly he held her gaze, not backing down.

"This is my-" Midway through her sentence, Massie decided to change tactics. Being a bitchy alpha wasn't going to gain her any points. "Seriously? You think I stalked you guys? Come on, that was _all_ Kristen and Claire. Not _me_." As she rolled her eyes with horror, she made sure to file away her lie so she could keep it up later.

"Really?" Derrick asked, glancing at her. Was that… _hope_ in his eyes? Massie nodded grimly, raising her eyebrows.

"Oh." Derrick glanced down, seeming genuinely sorry. Or…_yes,_ he was definitely checking out her chest. Massie slightly stuck her ribcage out, playing to her strengths.

"And the blame was mine." Massie sighed dramatically. Her lie was actually working. Sure, it would eventually come back and bite her in the butt…_but who cared_? For right now, she was blameless for the bomb shelter debacle.

"Well, sit." Cam pointed at an open chair in between Derrick and across from a boy Massie had no name for. "You can hang with us, since you're not like your weird friends."

"Yeah, we managed to get them sent to some loser lunch program for the rest of the week," Griffin Hastings (apparently he was now part of their group) snorted.

"Mmm hmm…and why not me?" Massie tried to sit as gracefully as possible, aware of Derrick _and_ the nameless kids' eyes on her.

"'cause Derrick told Chris not to," cracked another kid she didn't have a name for, who sat next to Cam.

"I don't think I know you," Massie said politely to the speaker, making sure to smile and show off her laser-whitened teeth.

"Caleb Zimmerman," the blond offered, smiling with both his mouth and his electric blue eyes. _A 9 out of 10_, Massie decided mentally, _the same as Derrick_. "I play soccer."

"Cool," said Massie, turning to the boy next to her with the same questioning look in her eye. "I'm Massie Block. You are?"

"Dempsey. Dempsey Solomon, and I know who you are." Dempsey gave her a dazzling smile coupled with an outstretched hand. Massie shook, unable to keep the shocked expression off her face. The Dempsey Solomon she knew was a fat, chubby loser/video-game expert. This Dempsey Solomon was tanned, lean and had total alpha-male potential. Surely they couldn't be the same…?

"I just got back from a summer in Africa." Dempsey told her as they broke hands. "I probably look a lot more tan."

"Yeah, that must be it," said Massie quietly, still gazing into his green eyes. She abruptly broke eye contact and picked an organic raspberry off her tray. As soon as the natural sweetness hit her tongue she was able to think clearly.

Massie turned back to Dempsey and smiled.

"You play any sports?" she asked whilst popping another raspberry into her mouth.

"Yeah, I play soccer, but I was also thinking about doing drama. Cam here told me it would be social suicide."

Massie had an irrational urge to bear hug Cam, realizing that her ex-crush had squeezed the last of the LBR traces out of Dempsey.

"Yeah, kinda," Massie smiled for the umpteenth time, taking a small sip of her Smart Water. "Soccer's cool though, what position do you play?"

As they continued to chat, Massie realized that she had found her alpha crush of the year. Dempsey's (and Derrick's, oddly) attention was intoxicating. For the rest of lunch, Massie forgot about her friends, Ahnna Pincher & how panicked she had felt only minutes before.

As she even found herself sharing a few words with the new-and-improved Kori Geldman, she started to think about how smoothly she could fit with the new 8th grade A-list.

_After all_, she thought slyly, _it really _isn't_ natural for anyone to stay with the same group of friends all throughout junior high_. Perhaps she was ready for a change.

Wait, scratch that. She was ready for change, and she was going to get it: no matter who or what stood in her way.

**Sorry for the delay! **

**What do you guys think about Massie's bold action? Is it going to help her or hurt her in the long run?**

**-B**


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